last year erin and i purchased four climbing roses and planted them by our arbors. this year - wow - how they grew and bloomed! the most beautiful flowers i had ever seen! i cared for those things as if i were caring for a child. i pruned. i sprayed. i fed. i protected. i cleaned the leaves. i had purpose and delight in my roses. i directed the branches strategically to grow through the lattice work. and i watched it flourish into something that looked like this:

but some bad weather came, a lot of rain, followed by intense humidity. and i was busy with work and other things, and for a couple weeks at best, i ignored my roses only to discover the leaves and blooms began to look like this:

needless to say i got back to work with purpose to rescue my roses and take delight in them once again.

it reminded me of psalm 1:

1:1 Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
4 The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

delight in the Lord and His Word today. you don't want your leaves to wither.